After a breakout night Monday, the Reds were back to offensive feebleness on Tuesday in a 2-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.

Right-hander Sal Romano was very good until the third time through the order. He went five-plus innings and allowed two runs on four hits. He walked two and struck out four.

"The story is the fact that they came back and threw a shutout after we scored 10 runs yesterday," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "That, to me, is the story more so than Sal's outing. I thought he threw the ball very well. The bullpen was spectacular and they were just able to out-do us with a two-run homer."

Romano took a shutout in the sixth but did not retire a batter in the inning. The big blow: A two-run homer to Eric Thames.

"Leadoff walk and a two-run homer," Romano said. "Ain't much else to say, honestly. I made a mistake and the guy did what he needed to do with it. It cost us the game. That's really about it. Other than that, my stuff felt good overall for the first five innings. I made a mistake and Thames did what he should do with it – he hit it out of the ballpark."

Thames hit 10 home runs off Reds' pitchers last year – five more than he hit against any other club.

"We talk about growing pains with the young pitchers," Price said. "But you've got a base open there, not that you have to give in to Thames. He gets a decent pitch and he hits it out. There's nothing you can do but give these guys an opportunity to pitch for them to learn through game situations."

Romano was done after Ryan Braun followed the home run with an infield single.

"He gave us five-plus of two-run baseball," Price said. "We weren't in the position at that point in time to give up any more."

The Reds got more bad news on the injury front. Devin Mesoraco was hit by a pitch in the second inning. He left the game in the sixth with a bruised wrist. X-rays were negative.

"It's his right hand, so hitting, throwing, everything got worse," Price said. "With a contusion, it gets worse throughout the course of the game. I think he'll be able to catch, but we'll see how he can handle the bat."